Alaska voters are reacting to allegations that Democrats recruited a spoilsport in the U.S. Senate race. But some say Republican groups also promote spoilers.
Transcription
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
We begin this hour in one of the smallest states in terms of population, certainly the largest in terms of land area, and a state that is home to one of the tightest races on the Senate map – a state that could determine control of the Senate next year. With just days until Election Day, Alaska’s U.S. Senate race was rocked by a New York Times report that Democratic operatives had recruited a spoiler candidate to run. Now, this is a report that NPR has not independently verified, but it was added to a lawsuit that had already been filed by the Justice Department. They are suing to block certification of the election if incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan narrowly loses. We’ll have more on that from Alaska Public Media’s Liz Ruskin, who joins us from Anchorage.
Hi, Liz.
LIZ RUSKIN, BYLINE: Hello.
DETROW: So where are things right now?
RUSKIN: We expect a federal judge in Anchorage to rule on motions to dismiss the DOJ lawsuit as early as Saturday. The state Division of Elections is one of the parties asking the judge to dismiss the case. And Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered another state agency to investigate whether the spoiler recruiting operation described in the Times article violated any laws. Several legal experts I interviewed said they were unaware of any violations of the law, based on what they read in the Times. Under Alaska law, they tell me, an applicant’s motivations don’t matter. A law professor told me that the DOJ case was really a press release presented as a lawsuit, and he didn’t expect it to have any legal significance. The Justice Department also launched a parallel criminal investigation, but did not specify what potential crimes it was looking into.
DETROW: We saw this all over the news. We have heard many opinions from President Trump on this subject. I’m curious what Alaskans think about these developments.
RUSKIN: Many of Peltola’s supporters tell us they don’t like the kind of shenanigans described by the Times, that it’s lousy politics, but they still vote for her. Some believe this huge Republican response is hypocritical. Amber McClelland, a Democrat from Anchorage, says recruiting a candidate for the sole purpose of siphoning votes away from an opponent should not be a reality.
AMBER MCCLELLAND: This is a little messed up, but in the past, Republicans have done everything they could to win, including cheating.
RUSKIN: If by cheating she means Republicans promoted spoilers, then yes, they did, and they are this year in Alaska.
DETROW: Really? Tell me more about this.
RUSKIN: A Republican-aligned group spent a lot of money this year trying to get an Arizona Green Party candidate on Alaska’s U.S. Senate ballot. He did not survive the state’s four primaries. Two years ago, the Republican Party went to court to defend the right of a federal prison inmate named Eric Hafner to run against Peltola for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat, even though Hafner would not have been able to hold office because he is serving a lengthy prison sentence in New York.
And then this year, a Republican-affiliated super PAC tried to put Hafner’s mother on the Alaska Senate ballot as a Democratic spoiler, but she also lost in the primary. Many Alaskans who support Peltola therefore remember these episodes. A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee told me, however, that this is no ordinary spoiler because he has the same name as outgoing Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. So they say the goal was to confuse voters.
DETROW: It was already a close race, close enough that President Trump flew to Alaska to campaign for Sullivan. Now you have this scenario. How has this affected campaign dynamics in recent days?
RUSKIN: Well, Peltola tries to stay focused on affordability, but she’s had to respond to the allegations. Last night, she gave a speech at a bar in Juneau, the capital of Alaska.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARY PELTOLA: I didn’t know anything about the other candidates on the ballot except me and the incumbent. It’s all I’ve ever known. I am not trying to mislead voters.
RUSKIN: She’s still campaigning this weekend, so we might hear more. And meanwhile, Senator Sullivan said on Fox News that Peltola is lying and cheating.
DETROW: That’s Liz Ruskin with Alaska Public Media in Anchorage. Thank you so much.
RUSKIN: Thank you, Scott.
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit the terms of use and permissions pages on our website at www.npr.org for more information.
The accuracy and availability of transcripts for NPR programming may vary. The text of the transcript may also be edited to correct errors or match audio updates. Audio may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio recording.
Please note that NPR platforms and products also include certain programming produced by third parties; NPR cannot guarantee transcriptions of this content and some transcriptions may be produced using automated or other tools.
Gn headline
